True Faith Lasts
True faith has lasting faith! Today we are going to talk about what it means to have lasting faith. How many in this room are interested in your faith with Jesus lasting beyond your moment of salvation? How many want to have a faith that stands the test of time? One that will not crumble when the storms of life come?
We have become a generation of “repeat after me” for a simple prayer, and not a “repeat after me” in the daily actions of our lives. Can we confidently say that we reflect the life of Paul, “follow me as I follow after Christ?” Has our faith begun and concluded at the altar and refused to enter into our daily habits, speech, and attitudes?
We all have fruit in our lives, some good and some bad. The truth is this: the root determines the fruit. If you are rooted in Christ, you will have lasting faith. If you are struggling to have a lasting faith, then you are rooted in something else other than Christ.
True faith, lasts. Beyond emotions, beyond Sunday morning, beyond the confines of our homes, beyond what is comfortable for our finances, beyond earthly preferences, and beyond the surface level. We can all agree that we want lasting faith, now how to we get it?
Lasting Faith is Humble
In order to have lasting faith, we must realize that the source of lasting faith is Jesus, not us. Hebrews 12:2 reminds us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. James tells us in this passage that he is the one who sustains our life. Humility steps back and realizes that he alone is our source, we ourselves cannot conjure up our own faith.
In this part of the passage, James encourages us that we might make plans, but ultimately, God’s plans will prevail. Do you want to talk about humility? James describes our life as this: a vapor. A puff of water vapor, a whiff of condensation here for a moment and gone just a few moments later.
Do we live with such humility? Or do we make decisions like we are immortal? Last week I said this: humility is the pathway to throne room of God. Humility is the path to a life full of God. James goes as far as to say that boasting and arrogance are evil. Remember last week’s passage again: God opposes the proud, yet he gives grace to the humble.
If our faith is going to last, if it is going to survive through the raging storms of this life, we must walk in humility. Humility ought to be the foundation of our walk with our God.
Lasting Faith is Generous
James doesn’t hold any punches in the first 6 verses of chapter 5, he calls those who hold riches to themselves as evil. Blessing and wealth aren’t a bad thing, but hoarding our wealth is sin according to God’s word. James says hoarding our wealth in the last days is like fattening ourselves for the day of slaughter.
Ecclesiastes 5:10, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.”
God has called us to a life of generosity. True faith, true people of God, live radically generous lives. Jesus proclaims it easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for the rich to inherit the kingdom. The rich young ruler walked away from following Jesus because of his affection for his wealth. Is your affection for wealth outweighing your affection for Jesus?
We have talked before about heart idols. We’ve discussed that today idols aren’t in the shape of wood and stone but take many different forms. If you are having trouble identifying the idol in your life your bank statement is a great place to start. Are you compelled by lost people and desperate to want to see them found? Are you sowing into the kingdom with the riches that God has blessed you with?
All that we have, every fiber of our being is a gift from God. All that we have earned and all that we have gotten are gifts from God. But the enemy is cunning isn’t he? Even he can take what God meant as a blessing, and use it to blind us and push us away from the true lover of our souls.
Can I challenge you today to give to God that which is his. And if you are in that place, what does the next level of radical generosity look like? We can’t take it with us! Money makes a wonderful servant but a terrible master. Which one is money to you?
Lasting Faith is Patient in Suffering
This last section here, verses 7-12 challenges us to stand firm and be patient. I used to have a youth pastor that would say in his sermons: don’t pray for patience! You might just get it.
How do we gain patience? We learn in seasons of waiting. “The Lord is near” James says, we must not grumble, we must not judge. We must be patient in our seasons of suffering. The Israelites grumbled in the wilderness in their season of waiting, and they lost out on the goodness of the promised land. The land of milk and honey went to another generation because theirs was not patient in their season of waiting.
Seasons are just that, seasons. I know people that have suffered their whole life, but even this life, this vapor, is a season. A small section of time that pales in comparison to the life to come. Romans 8:18 gives us the perspective we need: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Where are your eyes set? I’ll tell you what, if I have a headache and all I do is think about my headache, and talk about how painful it is, and harp on how much it hurts, it is going to be one painful headache. But if I get on with it and see the bigger picture, I focus on what God needs me to do that day, that headache doesn’t hurt nearly as bad.
James gives us the example of Job in this passage. I’ve heard many people say in hard times, “I am Job! I am Job!” I don’t mean to be rude… but none of us have had it like Job. His entire family dies, except his wife… which I think was the devil to be honest… sorry… But he loses everything! He has physical ailments we could not imagine. He loses all he has, all his wealth and experiences pain we cannot fathom. And what did he do? He was patient in suffering. He honored the Lord and he saw the big picture.
What is James’ instruction? Persevere, the Lord is full of compassion and mercy, the Lord’s timing is perfect. The temptation for us in a season of pain and difficulty is to wonder if God truly cares. Are you compassionate in this moment God? Do you hear me? Are you for me when I am going through all of this?
James is writing to men and women who were being murdered for their faith in Jesus. They were being brutally thrown to the lions, crucified like their savior, and lit on fire to light garden parties for Nero the emperor of Rome. Our difficulties do not align with theirs friends. They went through persecution we can’t even imagine, and they trusted God. We can too. We can be patient and endure, because our savior Jesus Christ is enduring with us and carrying us through.
Conclusion
Do you want your faith to last? To go beyond just slipping up our hand and accepting Jesus, to step into thriving in him. To not only walk, but run with Jesus through every single season of your life?
That starts with humility. It starts with saying, “Jesus, I need you. I can’t do this by myself. You are my source, I am going to cast my burdens onto you and allow you to lead me and guide me.”
Next, we become the generous people God has called us to be. We refuse to let money be our master, and use it instead as a servant for the kingdom of God. Our dollars become soldiers in God’s army, invading the kingdom of darkness and plundering the souls of a lost generation. We think outside of ourselves, and focus on others. We are compelled to not hoard, but give and give freely.
And last, we are patient in suffering. Follower of Jesus or not, seasons of suffering will surely knock on our door. And whether we let them in willingly or not, they are coming. Who are we in these crucial moments? Who has God called us to be? Better yet, who is God making us to be through our trial? Life isn’t about escaping the trials, it is about becoming the people God has made us to be in the midst of them.
Friends, let’s say yes to Jesus for a lifetime. All of life, for all of life. Our faith can last, we can be the people he has called us to be. Let’s do it together.